Let Love Win
by VeniceRings
Summary: Ron and Hermione learn that life isn't easy, but it is certainly worth living. A Post-DH fic. Picks up right where DH left off. R&R! *Rated M for language and later chapters.*
1. Chapter 1

**Let Love Win **

**Disclaimer: All rights to JKR. I own nothing.**

**Chapter One - Together**

**Hermione's POV **

It was all a dream.

It had to be.

There was _no way_ that it was all over. Absolutely _no possible way_.

But it was. It was done. And it was all a bit anti-climatic really. I mean, one moment we're all battling with everything in us to secure a victory we needed to survive. To live. To be free. Then the next moment we had claimed that victory. Proof was lying on the ground in the middle of the Great Hall, lifeless, as human as the people he believed were so far beneath him, that they didn't even deserve to speak his name without paying the ultimate price.

But no matter how we won, we _did. _I still can't believe it. If I went back in time to a year ago, and told myself that we would win _and_ I would still be alive, I would have fainted from complete and utter shock. Never in a million lifetimes would I believe that Harry, Ron and I, would have all survived this. And I thank whatever higher power that exists that we did. Because I couldn't live without my boys. My best friends. My _family._ They had survived.

But then I remembered, not all of them had. Not Remus, not Tonks, not Fred.

At the thought of that last name my heart dropped into my stomach. _Fred. Fred Weasley._ What are they going to do? What are _we_ going to do? I can't bare to think of the pain they must be in. The happiest, most warm hearted family I knew, was currently in pieces, and breaking more by the second. It had been mere hours since it happened. The last time I saw them was in the Great Hall, after our meeting in the Headmaster's office, Harry had gone straight to the Gryffindor boy's dormitories for some much needed rest. Ron however, was not ready to go to sleep without seeing his family again first. He looked me timidly in the eyes and whispered "Please? Will you come with me?" while offering me his hand,I smiled at him, interlocked our fingers and quietly replied "Of course.".

When we arrived at the Great Hall, the full weight of grief came crashing down on our shoulders. We both joined the Weasley's where they were huddled in a corner. immediately engulfed us both in a bone-crushing hug as we all sobbed wrapped around each other. We stayed there for probably half of an hour before insisted we join Harry in the dormitories.

Once we entered the Gryffindor Common Room, we stood nervously in front of the two dormitory staircases. I glanced over at Ron. The tips of his ears and his entire face was so brightly red that I was sure that if we were outside, you would be able to see him from space.

That thought lightened the mood for me enough to think clearly again. It was then that I realized how truly ridiculous we were both being. I loved this boy for Merlin's sake! I had worked up the courage to kiss him just hours earlier! How the hell was this any different?! We deserved our future, deserved to work through our grief together.

I was about to tell him as much and voice my thoughts, but Ron beat me to it.

"I'm in love with you, Hermione." He said.

I was caught completely off guard. I mean, I knew he felt at least some of what I felt for him, he had kissed me back after all, hadn't he? But the way he had said it, he had sounded so sure of himself, as if he had never meant anything more than those six words in his entire life. And to add to his confident words, his blush had completely disappeared during his statement. His confidence was contagious, adding to my own as I responded (quite smoothly if I do say so myself) with; "What a coincidence, because I just happen to be in love with _you_, Ron."

He beamed at me, and I back at him, and then, suddenly, we were kissing. _Snogging_, quite vigorously, in fact. Lips moving roughly against each other, tongues dancing together, moans escaping. It was a good 5 minutes before we pulled apart.

Both breathless and a bit light headed, we had headed up the stairs to the boy's sixth year dormitories. Once there, we found Harry curled up on his old bed, glasses on, and wand clutched in his right hand, as if expecting an attack at any moment. After removing his glasses, I turned around to find Ron, already asleep on his bed. I smiled to myself and got in bed next to him, wrapping an arm around his torso and resting my head on his chest, falling asleep almost instantly.

And that leads me to where I am now, awake, and staring at the ceiling and thinking about all that had occurred. I have no idea how long i've been asleep. Probably a few hours, but it doesn't matter, time isn't something to worry about right now. What ,or rather _who_, I should be worrying about is currently snoring, rather loudly, on the bed next to me.

However, the snoring abruptly stops, and I look over just in time to see Ron's eyes fluttering open.

He looks at me and smiles a sad sort of grief stricken smile.

I mirror him.

"Hi" He croaks, voice cracking with exhaustion and emotion.

"Hi" I whisper

His eyes flood with tears and he buries his head in my hair, his body racked with uncontrollable sobs. I want so badly to take away all of his pain, as my own eyes begin to water, but I can't. So I do the only thing I can, I hold him. I stroke his hair and don't let my own tears fall, in order to be strong for him, to be brave, because I know that's what he needs right nowt. There will be plenty of time to cry together later, but right, I must be his rock.

When he finishes, he begins to speak.

"I'm sor-"

"Don't you dare apologize." I say softly, still holding him in my arms.

"Okay." he says

A few moments of silence pass, the air thick with emotion.

"It hurts, Hermione."

My heart breaks all over again.

"I know."

"It's just so unfair, so _fucking _unfair!" He shouts.

I quickly grab my wand from my pocket and cast a silencing charm to make sure nobody wakes up due to Ron's shouts.

"What the hell did my family do to deserve this Hermione?! Huh? What the _fuck_ did we do, to deserve losing him?" Ron asked, tears pouring down his face. "I just…..I just can't take it...it's….it's too bloody much. Please, help me. Help me, Hermione, I….I don't know what to do. Please, Hermione….Please."

As hard as I tried I couldn't fight the tears after what Ron just said, I was openly crying as I cupped his face in my hands, forcing his red rimmed and puffy eyes to look deeply into mine, as I spoke softly yet firmly.

"Listen to me Ron. You and your family did nothing, _nothing_ to deserve this. It is not _at all _fair that this happened, it's something terrible, something tragic. But do not believe for even a _fraction_ of a second, that it happened because of something you or your family did. You all, are the absolute _best_ people I know. You are the kindest, sweetest, most compassionate people it the world. And it tears me apart to see you hurting like this. But there wasn't anything any of us did to cause this. It was war Ron. War isn't fair. War isn't kind. It's simply just war. It's terrifying, horrible, and completely _bloody_ mental. And it takes away the people we love the most. And even though it hurts, we _won_, we won the freedom to grieve, and we can take all the time in the world we want to do it. And I promise you, I will be right beside you and I will never leave as long as you need me."

"I'll always need you Hermione."

"And I, you"

After a few moments more of crying in each other's arms, we slowly drifted back to sleep.

Safe in our dreams, but ready to face everything head on when we wake up, _together_.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey Guys! Sorry it has taken so long for an update on this. With the school year wrapping up I have just been going crazy with finals and such. Anyways on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I think it's safe to say that I don't own Harry Potter, no matter what the voices in my head want me to believe.**

**Chapter 2: One Step At A Time**

**Ron's POV**

I wake up to laughter.

Two weeks.

It's been two whole weeks since it all ended.

It hasn't been easy. We lost a part of us. One whole giant piece.

But we're gonna make it. I know we are. I know because Mum smiled a day ago.

I know because Ginny and Harry got back together 3 days ago. I know because Dad returned to working on his muggle things in the shed 8 days ago. I know because Hermione and I made love for the first time 13 days ago. But most of all, I know because the laughter that woke me up was George's laughter. And I'm so happy to hear his laughter that when I open my eyes I don't even care if it's because I pissed the bed. Whatever is making his eyes shine as bright as they are now as I look at them, has got to be worth it. I knew it was worth it, and nothing could change my mind. That is until of course I followed his eyes and saw what he was looking at. At the foot of my bed is my Mum, her mouth open in shock, as she looked at me. A very naked me, in bed with an equally naked Hermione. And I am thankful to God that her left arm is under the sheets, hiding her scar. The scar that she only trusts me to see.

We had told everyone that we were together the morning after the battle. They had all been really happy, glad to have a moment of joy through all the grief, but also not surprised, all agreeing that it was "about time". Mum especially was supportive of our relationship, but I really don't think she's gonna be too supportive of her youngest son and his girlfriend having sex in her house. But a man can hope.

As I looked between my Mother's shocked face and my beloved girlfriend's peacefully sleeping face I pray to God that Hermione doesn't wake up yet. If she does, the embarrassment she would feel would be monumental, plus it would result in at least a week of no shagging.

Hermione is already stirring beside me (probably from George's laughter).

With this in mind I silently shoo him out of the room and speak very, very softly to my Mum.

"Mum, I know you're mad, and I know this" I say gesturing towards me and Hermione in bed together, unfortunately still naked " is against house rules, but please, _please_ just walk out very, _very _quietly. I don't want Hermione to know this is how you found out. Wait in the hallway, and i'll throw some clothes on and we can talk. Alright?" I ask pleadingly.

To my relief she slowly nods and makes her way out into the hall.

Once the door is closed I jump out of bed and put a t-shirt and pair of boxers on.

With one last glance at Hermione to make sure she's still asleep I close the door behind me.

Out in the hallway, Mum is waiting with a red face and… tears in her eyes?

She doesn't say anything. She just stands there.

"Mum? Are you alri-"

"MY BABY BOY!" She cries and pulls me into a hug.

To say I was confused would be a huge understatement, all I knew was that my dear Mother had gone completely mad, barmy, off her rocker.

"Mum? Aren't you mad at me?" I ask.

"Oh nonsense sweetheart, i'm not mad. I'm just….oh im just proud of the man you've become. Seeing you like that just makes me realize how much you've grown. You're not a little boy anymore,"

I smile at her, but I still can't believe she's not even a little bothered at what she saw a few minutes ago.

"So….are you sure you're not upset?"

"Oh it would have been preferable if you two would have waited until marriage, but I know what it's like to be young and in love. But I do have to ask you this, are you two being safe about things? I'm not ready to be a grandmother by you quite yet Ron."

"Of course we are." I assure her. Because we are, I mean, why wouldn't we be?

"Very good. And please do use silencing charms."

If my face wasn't red before, it certainly was know.

"Yes, Mum." I say, scratching the back of my head.

"Alright dear, I am going to start breakfast now."

She looks over my shoulder. "Oh good morning Hermione!" She says before hurrying down the stairs.

My eyes are so wide they are practically popping out of my head. I slowly turn around to see a very red faced very red face says it all, she heard everything.

"Ron?" She squeaks, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Please tell me she wasn't talking about what I think she was."

When I do nothing but blush harder and look down at my feet, Hermione seemed to know the answer.

She looked mortified. "Why did you tell her?"

"I didn't, she walked in on us in bed a few minutes ago."

In 7 and a half years of knowing her, I have never seen her look as embarrassed as she does now.

No going back now I guess.

"...her and George."

Instead of her yelling and hexing my bollocks off while saying that she'll never have sex with me again, she did something completely unexpected.

She burst out laughing.

After I got over the initial shock of her reaction, I joined in.

A few minutes later we were downstairs, avoiding taunting glances from Harry, Ginny and George.

Breakfast was a lot happier than it has been, and I didn't even care that much that it was because my Mum had walked in on me and Hermione in the aftermath of one of our newly discovered all-night shagging sessions.

After breakfast Hermione and I took a walk down to the pond by the Burrow with Harry and Ginny.

We didn't go swimming, instead we laid out a blanket and sat in the sun. We sat in a comfortable silence until Ginny spoke.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you wearing long sleeves? It's blistering hot out today." Ginny said.

Hermione looked at Ginny and then at me. I was the only one who knew about the scar on her arm, besides Fleur, not even Harry had seen it. We had talked and we had agreed not to say about her torture until she was ready. We made sure that Harry, Bill, and Fleur knew not to say anything to anyone. And by the look on Hermione's face, I could tell she still wasn't ready for everyone to know.

"Well, i'm actually a little chilly." Hermione said. But I could tell by Ginny's face that she wasn't going to believe that for a second.

"Oh come on, Hermione! You've been wearing long sleeve shirts or jumpers ever since you got here! What's going on?"

"Ginny! Drop it!" I warned.

"What? We're her friends if there is something wrong she can trust us!"

Seeing the look on my and Hermione's faces, Harry seemed to take the hint.

"Gin," he began "maybe you should-"

"No Harry!" Ginny shouted "You three have been gone for almost an entire year, and you still have secrets! I know you can't have possibly have told us everything! It's not fair that I always have to be kept out of the loop!"

"Ginny," Hermione began " I know it's been hard for you, not knowing where we were for all that time. But you have to know that it was hard for us too. We have told you everything that is important for now. It's just that some things that happened we aren't ready to tell yet. But I promise you, we will tell you sometime soon. You don't have to be "out of the loop" any longer.

All we want is for everyone to recover and to be happy again. This has been a terrible year for everyone, and we just have to move on."

Ginny sighed "Fine. Look i'm sorry I have been giving you guys such a hard time. I've just been so worried about you guys this year, and after Fred…"

"We know Gin." I said, giving her a one armed hug with the arm that wasn't around Hermione's waist.

"Okay then, how about we go and have some tea?" Harry said.

"Sounds brilliant" I said.

And as we walked back into the house I caught the slightly anxious expression on Hermione's face.

Sometime soon we'll have to face our demons. But right now, we drink tea.


End file.
